The decline in food inflation is mainly due to falling prices of pulses, wheat and potato, according to the official data released today.
Food inflation, having touched 18.32 per cent for the week ended December 25, had declined to 16.91 per cent on January 1.
According to the data, prices of pulses declined by 14.92 per cent, followed by wheat (6.11 per cent), and potato (2.91 per cent) on yearly basis.
Vegetable prices, however, continued remain firm going up by 65.39 per cent over the same period last year. Onion prices nearly doubled during the year.
While fruits became expensive by 15.91 per cent, prices of milk rose by 13.27 per cent and egg, meat and fish by 12.94 per cent.
Meanwhile, in the non-food category, the prices of fibres and minerals have climbed up by 46.77 per cent and 16.70 per cent, respectively, over the year-ago period.
The increase in prices of non-food items do not reflect hike in petrol prices announced by the oil marketing companies earlier in the month. The oil retailers on January 16 hiked the prices of petrol by about Rs 2.5 a litre.
The headline inflation in December had risen to 8.43 per cent, up from 7.48 per cent in the previous month, mainly driven by costly food items.